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Blood Vow

Happiness is success... (Buddha)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Part II • Descent of the Tendril - Tryanids vs Grey Knights

Deployment
The Grey Knights were deployed in a castle with the Vindicare assassin and one psyfleman placed on top of a tower. The landraider was placed in the center of the castle with one razorback on either side. The castle was situated over in one table quarter of my opponent's deployment zone.

I held my entire army in reserve and chose a large building in the middle of the table to infest with my Yrmgal genestealers. The other two genestealer broods would outflank. The Alpha Warrior with his Hormagaunts would come in off of my long table edge. The rest of my units would deep strike.

There were two Seize Ground markers in my opponent's side of the table along with his Capture and Control marker. I had one Seize Ground marker on my side of the table along with my Capture and Control marker placed in the far corner table of my deployment zone. The large building in the center of the table provided ample LOS blocking which I could use as a big screen when my units came in from reserve.

My immediate plan was to pop the razorbacks and get at the small Strike squads early to shutdown Warp Quake. Note that I have four mycetic spores which are really easy kill points for the Grey Knights.

Turn One - Grey Knights
Everything sits still.

Turn One - Tyranids
* Crickets chirp *

Kill Points: GK-0 Nidz-0

Turn Two - Grey Knights
The Strike squads pop Warp Quake and fire their smoke launchers. All vehicles move just a bit.

So over half of my army arrives and I do not have to worry about being piecemealed to death. I bring the Trygon in behind the central building along with the Yrmgal genestealers and Doom. The genestealer brood arrives on the short table close to the Grey Knight castle and will assault one of the razorbacks. The Warriors and termagants drop in back over by my Capture and Control marker safely tucked away for now. The genestealers fleet over towards the razorback, assault it and destroy it. One Grey Knight dies in the explosion. The Broodlord had successfully cast Aura of Despair at the beginning of the assault phase - the Grey Knights then fail their pinning check. Warp Quake has been shut down on one side of the GK castle!

Kill Points: GK-0 Nidz-1

Turn Three - Grey Knights
The Grey Knights train most all their guns on the brood of genestealers and Trygon Prime. All that is left of the genestealers after the smoke has cleared is the Broodlord with one wound and one genestealer. The Trygon Prime is down to three wounds. The Grey Knights also pop the two spores as well.

Turn Three - Tyranids
Here is what came in from reserve:

• Alpha Warrior with Hormogaunts
• Zoanthropes
• Genestealers

The Alpha Warrior and it's posse come in using the central building for cover and fleet towards it. The second brood of genestealers also come in on the short side of the table over by the GK castle and will be able to lend support to the first brood. The Zoies drop down right beside the landraider. The Yrmgal genestealers come out from behind the central building to assault the remaining razorback. Shooting sees the Zoies' spore drop a wound on the assassin while the Trygon kills two more of the Grey Knights in the first strike squad. Both of the Zoanthropes are blocked by the Librarian's psychic hood unfortunately. Assault sees the first Strike squad destroyed and the Yrmgal genestealers destroy the second razorback. The genestealers consolidate into a crater and the second Strike squad pass their leadership tests. At this point I'm actually ahead on kill points... Pretty crazy !! We are tied on both Seize Ground plus Capture and Control so I'm ahead by one kill point.

Kill Points: GK-2 Nidz-3

Turn Four - Grey Knights
It's time for the Grey Knights to go to work now. They've still got lots of firepower to dish out plus the deathstar is fully intact and very mobile thanks to both of the Zoies whiffing.

The Paladins along with the Grand Master and Librarian disembark to line up shots on the genestealers while the landraider and one psyfleman target the Trygon Prime. The genestealers go to ground - one Broodlord and a couple of genstealers manage to survive. The Trygon goes down after failing two cover saves and an armor save. The assassin takes a shot at one of the Broodlords and misses. The other psyfleman pops the Warriors' spore. The lone Strike squad shoots the Yrmgal genestealers but only manage to kill two then charge them and are cut down by the brood. Both the Zoies and their spore are left intact amazingly.

Turn Four - Tyranids
The Grey Knights have surged back but I've still got plenty of units left. I need to shut down the landraider this turn to make sure the deathstar cannot reach around the central building. In comes the last Trygon popping in behind the central building - it's getting a bit crowded back there now. Heh . The Yrmgal genestealers head over to assault a psyfleman while the termagants start to slog forward into synapse range of the second Trygon. The Zoies line up a second salvo on the landraider and manage to immobilize it. Their spore fires on the assassin again and drops him! W00T !!! Assault sees the Yrmgal genestealers rip both arms off of the psyfleman.

We are now tied on all three objectives but I know I'm going to give up a good number of kill points the following turn. In turn the Grey Knights only have a few kill points left to give up and they are all highly resilient. I need to start focusing on contesting my opponent's objectives... I've still got lots of units left with a healthy amount of synapse so I'll have to try to flood his area with more units than he can kill. Immobilizing the landraider was pretty huge this turn.

Kill Points: GK-5 Nidz-5

Turn Five - Grey Knights
The deathstar has to make some hard choices now. The only target they can see are what's left of the second genestealer brood which can also be targeted by the landraider. The psyfleman in the tower can't see much either. The deathstar opts to focus on the Zoies as they are too far away to reach the Yrmgal genestealers this turn. The landraider destroys the last of the genestealer brood while the deathstar aces the Zoies. The psyfleman in the tower destroys the last spore. The Yrmgal genestealers manage to immobilize the psyfleman.

Turn Five - Tyranids
I bring forward the brood of 20 devilgants using the Trygon as their primary synapse anchor. The Alpha Warrior along with it's posse come around the far side of the building using it for cover. The next turn these units can swarm the Grey Knights. This turn the Yrmgal genestealers finally manage to destroy the psyfleman.

The deathstar is left holding two of the Seize Ground markers and their Capture and Control Marker as well plus the Grey Knights are now up by two kill points (which as I've said will be next to impossible to overtake).

Kill Points: GK-8 Nidz-6

Turn Six - Grey Knights
Again the deathstar has some tough decisions. If they go after the Yrmgal genestealers they will move off of their objective markers... Nothing else is in their range and the landraider is facing in the wrong direction to shoot anything. The psyfleman in the tower targets the Warrior brood and kills two but the third is safe behind cover holding my Capture and Control objective. The deathstar shoots at the Yrmgals who have cover but only manage to kill a couple and they pass their leadership test.

Turn Six - Tyranids
The Alpha Warrior and his posse hop back to hold my Seize Ground marker behind the central building while the devilgants anchored by the Trygon surge forward again careful to remain outside of the deathstar's assault arc. The Yrmgals move and then fleet to contest the Grey Knight's Seize Ground and Capture and Control markers. The lone Warrior is sitting safely on my Capture and Control marker. We roll the dice to see if there is a turn seven and the game ends. I end up winning two objectives to one.

Post Game Analysis
If the game had gone onto a final seventh turn the deathstar would have killed the Yrmgals then I would have moved up the termagants to contest the Grey Knight objectives again. I think this was a good example of how to use Null Zone Deployment tactics to counter Grey Knights. I was able to neutralize the amount of damage the GK deathstar could generate while systemically removing other units over the course of the game. The last turn I was in a good position to contest for the win.